Legislative Session Coverage

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is well on his way to winning the GOP nomination, but he can’t seem to get out of his own way in making gaffes that are custom-made for campaign ads for Democrats.

Romney received the endorsement of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush Wednesday, but instead of focusing on that, Romney had to defend himself against being compared to an Etch-a-Sketch by a top adviser of his.

Eric Fehrnstrom was asked by CNN if the primary fight might force Romney to an extreme position that could hurt him with more moderate independent voters in November.

“I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign,” Fehrnstrom said. “Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch-A-Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.”

If Fhernstrom was comparing his candidate to an Etch-A-Sketch, it comes at a bad time as Romney has battled the image of being a flip-flopper as he goes back against his old policies to mold himself into a conservative who can win the GOP nomination.

If Fehrnstrom was comparing the campaign to an Etch-A-Sketch, it possibly shows the Romney campaign doesn’t hold GOP voters in much high regard and will have their support regardless and he’s just saying what primary voters want to hear.

Even Romney’s conservative opponents couldn’t stop from getting in a few shots on the Etch-A-Sketch line Wednesday.

“My children had Etch A Sketches, they were great for car rides,” rival Newt Gingrich, badly trailing Romney in the polls, said in Lake Charles, La. “But you’ll notice that their pictures aren’t permanent, their pictures aren’t locked down. You can redo it any time you want. That’s the problem.”

“Gov. Romney’s campaign had a real moment of truth today,” he told reporters in Kenner, La., after touring a fish processing plant. “It actually revealed what everybody knew or suspected but now know: Gov. Romney is interested in saying whatever is necessary to win the election and when the game changes, he’ll change.”